Ear ornament with leaf spring having bifurcated ends soldered to respective ornament sections

ABSTRACT

An essentially circular ear ornament comprises two semi-circular sections pivotable relative to each other about a bearing therebetween. The sections are urged to gripping position by a leaf-spring seated in slits in the two sections.

United States Patent [1 1 Blumstein et al.

[ Oct. 30, 1973 EAR ORNAMENT WITH LEAF SPRING HAVING BIFURCATED ENDS SOLDERED TO RESPECTIVE ORNAMENT SECTIONS Inventors: Abraham Blumstein, New York,

N.Y.; Rocco Agoglia, Belleville, NJ.

Lucien Piccard Industries, Inc., New York, NY.

Filed: Nov. 16, 1971 Appl. No.: 199,148

Assignee:

US. Cl. 63/14 D, 63/10 Int. Cl. A446 7/00 Field of Search 63/14 G, 14 D, 7,

63/12, 13, 8, 9, 11; 24/252 R, 252 CT, 252 CD, 252 CL, 252 CP, 252 SH, 252 LH, 252 DP, 252 GC, 252 BC, 252 TH, 252 TC, 252

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 260,692 7/1882 Krementz 63/12 3,599,444 8/1971 Demers 63/14 D FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 25,409 8/1906 Austria 63/10 147,425 11/1920 Great Britain 63/12 Primary Examiner-F. Barry Shay Attorney-Alex Friedman et al.

[5 7] ABSTRACT An essentially circular ear ornament comprises two semi-circular sections pivotable relative to each other about a bearing therebetween. The sections are urged to gripping position by a leaf-spring seated in slits in the two sections.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures EAR ORNAMENT WITH LEAF SPRING HAVING BIFURCATED ENDS SOLDERED TO RESPECTIVE ORNAMENT SECTIONS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Ear ornaments suitable for use with pierced ears have been used for centuries. However, many women are reluctant to have their ears pierced and prefer to use ear ornaments such as earrings which are held to the ears by friction. Frictional devices generally employ screwaction or spring-loading. Screw-action is not particularly suitable for the purpose because the threaded arrangement is bulky, the screw is obtrusive and the screw protrudes far enough so that it is apt to become entangled with the hair or to be pulled loose from the ear of the wearer by accidental contact with objects.

Spring-loading in a direction such as to urge opposing sections of an ear ornament together is preferable,

therefore, but it is necessary that consideration be given'to controlling both the bulk and weight of the spring-loading mechanism. Spring-loading loading mechanisms available to date have been relatively bulky, have required a plurality of parts in addition to the ear ornament itself, and have been costly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A hollow clip-on ear ornament comprises first and second essentially semi-circular sections, each having a gripping end for gripping an ear-lobe and a bearing end. Bearing means in the bearing ends pivotably join the first and second sections for relative rotation through a limited arc. A leaf-spring having two ends is carried by the sections with the leaf-spring being so stressed in the ear ornament as to urge the gripping ends together and thereby to hold the ornament to the ear-lobe.

The ends of the leaf-spring pass through slits in each of the two sections of the ear ornament and are soldered to the sections at the slits. The structure of the assembly is such that the leaf-spring presses the free ends of the two sections together for the purpose of holding the ear ornament to an ear-lobe. In a preferred form, each section of the ear ornament has the form of a horn-of-plenty.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a clip-on ear ornament of improved construction. 7

Another object of the present invention is to provide an ear ornament in which the spring-loading means are low in bulk, weight and cost.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a spring-loaded ornament which is easily assembled.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification.

The invention accordingly comprises an article of manufacture possessing the features, properties, and

the relation of elements which will be exemplified in i the article hereinafter described, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a fuller understanding of the invention, reference is had to the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view with a portion cut away of an ear ornament constructed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the instant invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view in elevation of an ear ornament in position on an ear;

FIG. 3 isa sectional view, at an enlarged scale, taken along line 3 3 of FIG.2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 4 4 of FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A hollow, ear ornament is generally indicated by the reference numeral 11. The ornament is in two sections 12 and 13. Section 12 has a face plate 14 thereon which carries a rim 17. Face plate 14 has an opening 16 therethrough within rim l7. Adjacent to rim I7 face plate 14 carries a projection 18. Section 13 has a face plate 15 thereon with a circular aperture 19 and a notch 21 therethrough. On assembly, rim 17 is rotatable within circular aperture 19, and projection 18 passes through notch 21. The walls of notch 21 limit the extent of travel of projection 18 and thereby set limits on the ex tent to which the two sections may be rotated relative to each other.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 4, notch 21 and circular gether have the shape of a key-hole. However, as is evi dent, since projection 18 may be separate from rim 17, notch 21 could be separate from circular aperture 19.

In assembled state, the two sections 12 and 13 of the ear ornament 11 are held together by a leaf-spring 24. Slits 22 and 23 in the walls of the sections 12 and 13 lie on a straight line through openings 16 and 19. Ends 25 and 26 of leaf-spring 24 when the leaf-spring is in unstressed condition lie in planes which are about apart. Consequently, when the two sections 12 and 13 form an angle of 90 with each other, the leaf-spring 24 can fitthrough slits 22 and 23 without stress. Leafspring 24 is long enough so that, during assembly, ends 25 and 26 thereof can pass through both slits Hand 23 before projection 18 comes in contact with face plate 15. As a result, it is possible to put end 25 through slit 22, fasten end 25 to section 12 as by soldering, put end 26 through aperture 19 and slit 23 before projection 18 engages face plate 15 and then rotate section 13 clockwise relative to section 12 until a gripping end 27 on section 13 passes a gripping end 28 on section 12. At this point, notch 21 will be in register with projection 18 so that rim 17 and projection 18 can be slipped into aperture 19 and notch 21 respectively and face plates 14 and 15 can be brought together. The assembly is completed by fastening, such as by soldering, leafspring end 26 into section 13 at slit 23. As the final step, those portions of ends 25 and 26 which protrude through slits 22 and 23 can be ground off so that the exterior of the ear ornament is smooth.

Leaf-spring ends 25 and 26 are preferably bifurcated into fingers 29. One purpose is to decrease heat flow along the leaf-spring during the soldering operation. Excessive heat flow might cause loss of temper of the leafspring. A second reason is to facilitate fastening of the leaf-spring 24 into the slits 22 and 23 during assembly, prior to soldering. The fingers 29 on one end of leaf-spring 24 can be bent in opposite directions, thus anchoring the leaf-spring end firmly at the slit.

Gripping ends 27 and 28 are preferably broadened into pads 31 and 32, for the comfort of the wearer. In the embodiment shown in the drawing, each of sections 12 and 13 have the form of a horn-of-plenty or cornucopia, with the narrow end of the horns at the gripping ends of sections 12 and 13. Where gripping ends 27 and 28 are not narrow, the pads 31 and 32 are unnecessary. I

The way in which sections 12 and 13 grip ear-lobe 33 is shown in FlG. 2. Rotation about face plates 14 and 15 makes it possible to spread sections 12 and 13 to permit fastening the ornament to the ear-lobe.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, in closed position, ends and 26 are stressed through an additional 90 but interference of end 27 with end 28 prevents sections 12 and 13 from rotating relative to each other into unstressed position. Separating sections 12 and 13 by the slight rotation necessary to permit insertion of the ear into the opening between pads 31 and 32 increases the stress applied by the spring 24.

FIG. 4 shows how projection 18 lifts in notch 21 and how excursion of projection 18 in notch 21 is limited by walls 34 and 35 of the notch 21.

It is to be understood that such details of the assembly procedure as have been given are presented only to explain the construction of the ear ornament of the present invention. Thus, although removal of those portions of the leaf-spring which protrude through the walls of sections 12 and 13 is stated to be the final step, this does not preclude the possibility of further steps designed to improve the appearance of the ear ornament. Such steps could include plating with a desired metal, lacquering or polishing.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, since certain changes may be made in the above article without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described, and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

What is claimed is:'

l. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament comprising first and second essentially semi-circular sections, each having a gripping end for gripping an earlobe and a bearing end, bearing means in said bearing ends for joumalling said first and second sections for relative rotation, said sections being normally substantially coplanar and rotatable out of said coplanar relationship for separating said gripping ends for application to an earlobe, leafspring means having two ends, each said section having therein a slit for receiving and holding therein an end of said leaf-spring means, said leaf-spring means having a substantially straight longitudinal axis, the ends of said leaf-spring means being bifurcated into fingers and means securing each end of said leaf-spring means in its associated slit, said securing means comprising a solder joint fixing said fingers to its associated section, said leaf-spring means joining said sections at said bearing ends, said leaf-spring means being so stressed in said ear ornament to bias said sections into said coplanar relationship, said leaf-spring means being initially longer than the distance between said slits in assembled condition of said ornament, whereby to facilitate securing of said leaf-spring means to said sections.

2. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament as defined in claim 1, wherein said bearing means comprises a first transverse sheet at said bearing end of said first section, said first sheet having therein a circular opening, a cylindrical rim surrounding said circular opening and a projection proximate said rim and a second transverse sheet at said bearing end of said second section, said second sheet having therein a circular aperture for receiving said rim rotatably and an arcuate notch of a selected length for receiving said projection, the extent of rotation of said sections relative to each other in a grippingends-separating direction corresponding to the length of said notch.

3. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said sections has the shape of a horn-of-plenty, the gripping ends of said sections corresponding to the narrow end of said horn-of-plenty.

4. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament as defined in claim 3, wherein each of said gripping ends has thereon a pad adapted to hold said ornament to an ear-lobe without discomfort. 

1. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament comprising first and second essentially semi-circular sections, each having a gripping end for gripping an earlobe and a bearing end, bearing means in said bearing ends for journalling said first and second sections for relative rotation, said sections being normally substantially coplanar and rotatable out of said coplanar relationship for separating said gripping ends for application to an earlobe, leaf-spring means having two ends, each said section having therein a slit for receiving and holding therein an end of said leaf-spring means, said leaf-spring means having a substantially straight longitudinal axis, the ends of said leaf-spring means being bifurcated into fingers and means securing each end of said leaf-spring means in its associated slit, said securing means comprising a solder joint fixing said fingers to its associated section, said leaf-spring means joining said sections at said bearing ends, said leaf-spring means being so stressed in said ear ornament to bias said sections into said coplanar relationship, said leaf-spring means being initially longer than the distance between said slits in assembled condition of said ornament, whereby to facilitate securing of said leaf-spring means to said sections.
 2. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament as defined in claim 1, wherein said bearing means comprises a first transverse sheet at said bearing end of said first section, said first sheet having therein a circular opening, a cylindrical rim surrounding said circular opening and a projection proximate said rim and a second transverse sheet at said bearing end of said second section, said second sheet having therein a circular aperture for receiving said rim rotatably and an arcuate notch of a selected length for receiving said projection, the extent of rotation of said sections relative to each other in a gripping-ends-separating direction corresponding to the length of said notch.
 3. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament as defined in claim 1, wherein each of said sections has the shape of a horn-of-plenty, the gripping ends of said sections corresponding to the narrow end of said horn-of-plenty.
 4. A hollow, clip-on ear ornament as defined in claim 3, wherein each of said gripping ends has thereon a pad adapted to hold said ornament to an ear-lobe withouT discomfort. 